An Essay on Simon
by HeadChoirBoy
Summary: I wrote this for my Lit. class after reading the book. It's about Simon...please read and review - I got an A on it! CONTAINS SPOILERS!


Lord of the Flies Assignment

Hello. My name is Simon. I'm a choir boy from the country of England. We were evacuted from our school during the war and our plane went down over the ocean. I never expected to live, but I ended up on an island with the other boys from my choir. The head choir boy, Jack Merridew, took his leadership over us as usual. Then, suddenly, we heard a noise like the sound of a trumpet. The entire choir gathered into our lines and we marched down the sandy beach until we came upon something that looked like a platform filled with other boys.

It was so hot out that I fainted. When I recovered the boys had moved me under a tree, and some rather large boy was taking name counts. I think they called him Piggy. Then another boy (who is known as Ralph) was holding what looked like a conch. Ralph suggest that we should elect a leader, and the vote goes between himself and Jack. The entire choir (including myself) votes for Jack, but the rest of the boys vote for Ralph. Ralph wins. Jack then suggests that his choir could be used for hunters. After that, Ralph choose Jack and myself to go and explore the island with him.

The island is fairly large and desolate. We spent most of our time goofing around and pretending that we were real explorers. It was fun, and I really like Ralph and Jack. When we were done, we went back to the beach and Ralph called another assembly. This time he discussed how the there are no adults on the island and how the conch shell would be used to determine who gets to speak during assemblies. Then a small boy with a mulberry birth mark on his face came foward and spoke about seeing a 'snake beastie'. All of the younger boys became upset over that prospect. Ralph then suggested that we make a signal fire for rescue. Everyone became so excited that we rushed for the mountain, the best place to make a fire. The group of us gathered wood and used Piggy's glasses to make flames. Jack then volunteered the hunters to also be on fire watch. Suddenly, to my surprise as well as others, a group of trees caught on fire. Then Piggy announced that the boy who had first mentioned the beastie has disappered. I was shocked. Our group returned back to the beach.

The next day I was busy helping Ralph make shelters. Ralph was angry the entire time, considering that I was the only one helping him. Then Jack came back from hunting, upset over the prospect of not being able to kill a pig. Jack and Ralph began to fight. I didn't want to stick around to here them bicker at eachother, so I left for the jungle. I came across a beautiful patch of land. I decided to make it my own special place, where I could come to when I wanted to be alone.

Quite a few days have past since we first landed on the island. The littluns, I'm afraid, are becoming very scared about the idea of having a beast. Today, however, we could have gone home. Piggy and Ralph spotted a ship on the horizon. Everyone became all excited. We thought we were going to be saved. Then Piggy noticed that the signal fire was out. We all rushed for the mountain as fast as we could, but by the time that we managed to get to the top the ship was gone. Ralph was crying for it to come back in urgent tones of disbelief. I stood there silently, knowing that it was Jack's fault for not keeping the fire going. Sure enough, only a few minutes later, Jack and the rest of the hunters came up the mountain chanting some bizzare song and carrying a dead pig. Jack was all excited over the prospect of killing a pig, but Ralph kept on pushing the fact that the fire was out back in his face. They got into a heated conversation, and Jack reluctantly apoloigized Then Piggy started screaming about the hunters being immature, and Jack slapped him. After that the hunters rebuilt the fire and passed pig around for all of us. Ralph, on the other hand, stated that he was calling an assembly and went right back down the mountain.

It was late in the evening when Ralph finally blew the conch to call an assembly. I went rushing to the platform, where I took a seat not far from him. Ralph begins to talk about how none of the boys are following any of the rules, such as keeping the signal fire going or collecting fresh water. Then he turned the talk towards the beast, stating that there was no such thing. Jack and Piggy agree to that statement. Then one of the littluns, Percival, stands up and says that he has actually seen the beast. He says it comes from the water. I suggest that the beast is from within ourselves, but they laugh me down and call me batty. Jack then proclaimed that if there is a beast, he and his hunters would kill it. He then runs off, his hunters following him, and begin to chant and do some bizarre dance. Ralph then turns to Piggy and I and tells us how he is considering giving up being chief. I tell him to keep being chief. Suddenly, during our talk, there is a sudden cry. But it turns out only to be Percival. Ralph and I carried him back to the shelter and then we fell asleep ourselves.

While we were asleep, Sam and Eric came rushing into our shelter to wake Ralph. Their voices sounded urgent and full over fear, and I heard them mention something about seeing the beast. Ralph called an urgent assembly. The twins tell their tale of the beast at the assembly. Immediately an expiditon to search the island for the beast is set up, and we head foward, armed with sticks. Piggy stays behind with the littluns.

Jack led the expidtion. He took us to some undiscovered section of the island. Ralph, then Jack, set foward to search this place. Seeing that there was no immediate danger, the rest of us joined them. A few of the boys begin to play games, forgeting the reason why they are on the expidtion. I heard Jack going on and on about making this place a fort. Ralph, angry as usual, reminds everyone that we are looking for the beast. Some of the boys barely listened to him, but we were eventually on our way again.

While on our expidtion we stopped to eat. While eating, I noticed that Ralph was a little nervous. I went over to him and reassured him that he would get back okay. He looked at me and wanted an explanation, but I couldn't give him one. I just know, I just have this feeling, that if any of us are going to get back alive that it is Ralph. After that, we continued on our expidtion. Jack, however, came up with the suggestion that we hunt a pig. We went off hunting, but we managed to kill nothing. Then something quite interesting happened. The boys reanacted the pig hunt, using Robert as the pig. They almost killed him by jabbing their spears at him. I myself would hope to never be caught as the pig when they were doing something like that.

Meanwhile, Ralph suggests that someone needs to return to Piggy and tell him that the expidition won't be over until much later. I volunteer, only because I don't mind going through the forest at night or day. They let me go, and I return to quite a disgruntled Piggy. I tell him of the news, and then go sit on the beach by myself. During that time I contemplated what was going to happen to all of us. After a while I returned to the shelter and went to sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, talk that Ralph, Roger, and Jack had seen the monster was spreading around the camp. I couldn't believe it. There was a beast. But it wasn't...possible, was it? While I was thinking, someone blew the conch. I knew it wasn't Ralph. When I went to the platform I saw Jack holding the conch. He then began to talk about how there is a beast and that Ralph is a coward. He then suggests that Ralph should no longer be chief. However, the rest of us refuse to vote Ralph down from power. Jack becomes angry and storms off, saying something about forming his own tribe. Ralph is all upset, and I suggested that we climb the mountain again. No one took my idea seriously. I decided to go by myself, but first I wanted to stop by my secret place in the forest.

However, I came across something quite disturbing. I saw the head of a pig on a stick. I sat down, staring at the disgusting and impaled head which had flies swarming all around it. Suddenly, it began to talk to me. It old me that it was the beast, the Lord of the Flies. It tells me how it his part of us, how we will never be able to escape from it. He told me that I should join the other boys, that it would do me in. This was all too much for me, and I was aware of myself fainting.

I woke up not too soon after. Then, with hardly any strength and a bleeding nose, I began to climb the mountain. It was a long and hard trek for me, but I was determined to make it. I don't know how I didn't collapse from how dehydrated I was. When I reached the top of the mountain, I saw a horrible sight. A dead and rotting corpse of a parachutist met my eyes. I felt sick to my stomache and ended up vomiting. After that, I untangled the lines from the parachute from the surrounding rocks. In the distance, I saw the faint light of a fire. Knowing that it was the other boys, I stumbled down the mountain, wanting to tell them of my discovery.

Finally I managed to reach the boys. I hesitated slightly. Was that Jack? The one in the far corner, his face painted? Was that the rest of the choir boys - painted like Jack? I tried to ignore their sudden change and began to creep out of the forest. They saw me. What happens next still amazes me. The boys begin to shout that I am the beast, and they run at me. I try to tell them about the parachutist, and I try to remind them who I am. But they have gone blood crazy. I tried to escape, but they followed me. I felt the sticks impaling my skin. I could feel the blood coming from within. I was hurting. They were beating upon me. Finally I collapsed on the beach. I was dying, the world was slipping away from me. The water on the beach came up to me, and it took me away.

But I never truely left the island.

No, the next day I knew how Jack denied killing me. I saw Ralph, Piggy, and the twins act as if nothing was their fault, as if they didn't kill me. But they all did. Every single one of them. I was aware of what was happening over at Castle Rock, were Jack's tribe was. I knew that they wanted to raid Ralph's camp, but why I was not sure. Later that night they went on that raid, and with them they took Piggy's glasses. The next day I watch as the Ralph's 'tribe' travels to Castle Rock. In the attempt to argue with Jack for the return of Piggy's glasses, Roger showed I sign that I had never seen from him before. He pushed a large boudler from where he was standing all the way down until it crashed ontop of Piggy's head, killing him. Then the boys tied up the twins, and Ralph runs off. Then Jack and Roger begin to torture the twins in an effort to get them to join their tribe. It worked, of course.

Later on I watched as Ralph, who is now all alone, went to back to Castle Rock and had a discussion with the twins on what his fate his going to be. They could not tell him much, except that they mentioned a stick sharpened at both ends. Then a voice, which I think belonged to Roger, was heard in the distance. Ralph left, and I watched him hide in a bush for the night. The next morning, Jack and his tribe begin an effort to attempt to smoke Ralph out of the island as though he were a pig. I watched on in horror as Ralph desperately looked for someplace to go.

Finally, when all hope seemed to have died out, Ralph ran onto the beach were he came upon a shocking discovery. A navy officer stood before him.. I looked out to the ocean, and sure enough there was a ship. The fire that Jack's tribe had used to attempt to smoke out Ralph had turned from the fire of death to the fire of life. Ralph is suddenly overwhelemed and he begins to cry.

As for me, I knew I was right when I said that he'd get back all right.


End file.
